Lieutenant Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. perished in one of the first American fatalities associated with a pilotless aircraft, which we usually know today as a drone or unmannedaerial vehicle (UAV). The older brother of future president, John F. Kennedy, was taking part in an extraordinary secret war being waged across the English Channel with new generations of exotic weapons.

Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr.(July 25, 1915 – August 12, 1944)

New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey resigned on this day in 2004, declaring he’s gay.

James Edward McGreevey turned 61 on August 6th.

The Russian nuclear submarine Kursk sank and its 118-man crew died during naval exercises in the Barents Sea on this day in 2000.

Following salvage operations, analysts concluded that 23 sailors in the sixth through ninth compartments had survived the two explosions. They took refuge in the small ninth compartment and survived more than six hours. When the oxygen ran low, crew members attempted to replace a volatile potassium superoxidechemical oxygen cartridge when it contacted oily sea water that had seeped into the compartment. A resulting explosion killed several crew members and triggered a flash fire that consumed the remaining oxygen, suffocating the remaining survivors.

Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the monument to the sailors who died in the Kursk disaster.

As one of its founders, Jerry Garcia performed with the Grateful Dead for their entire thirty-year career (1965–1995). He was well known for his distinctive guitar playing and was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone‘s"100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Garcia was staying in a drug rehabilitation facility when he died of a heart attack at the age of 53.